Actor Brendan Gleeson guest-hosted the episode and Willow Smith was the musical guest.
This weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” centered on the country’s tense state with a cold open centered on a game show called “So You Think You Won’t Snap?”
In the sketch, the game show host (Bowen Yang) mentioned real headlines to contestants until they inevitably broke down in some way.
“Have you noticed that everyone around you is angry and crazy?” Yang asked at the top of the sketch with a game-show-host grin. “People are flipping out at Target, stabbing is back and the only thing that can cheer us up is watching a sexy show about Jeffrey Dahmer.”
The first contestant (Heidi Gardner), whom Yang described as one of only four “people in America who have not yet snapped,” was read increasingly disturbing news about a potential nuclear threat from Russia and President Biden’s ability to deal with it.
“On Thursday, Biden said we are closer to nuclear Armageddon than we’ve been in 60 years,” the host said.
When Gardner’s character answered, “don’t know where to put that in my brain but I love Biden,” Yang sadistically reminded her of Biden’s age.
“When Joe Biden was born we didn’t have highways,” Yang said, adding the president didn’t get his first computer until he was 53 years old.
He then played a real video clip of Biden on ’60 Minutes” talking about his “mental acuity.”
“How would you say your mental focus is?” the “60 Minutes” interviewer asks in the clip before Biden answers: “Oh, it’s focused.” He then laughs and mumbles, then: “I think it’s – I haven’t – look.”
Gardner is then seen furiously chugging a glass of wine.
After learning about Herschel Walker’s abortion allegation, a second contestant (Chloe Fineman) reached her breaking point, 86% of kids say their dream job is to be a social media influencer, and Chris Pratt plays Mario in the new animated film.
After hearing the name “Elon Musk,” the third contestant (Kenan Thompson) snapped.
“That man needs to shut his mouth!” an infuriated Thompson shouted. “Rich dude talking about going to Mars, we’ll take your a– to Mars then!”
The final contestant (Davon Walker) wasn’t bothered by the news that 401ks are down by 20% or that the Mars company has announced that the orange M&M has anxiety in the “name of inclusivity,” but he started to be concerned when the host mentioned Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
“It’s OK, I still like his music,” Walker’s character said through deep breaths after the host said Ye called Lizzo fans “demonic.”
The host continued, “Kanye West also recently opened a private school,” prompting Walker to say, “Ok, it’s cool, yeah, that’s good right.”
Then the host said, “and he says he’s never read a book in his life.” Willow Smith was the musical guest.
